The Present Indicative

"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days ... which are a shadow of things to come; but the body [substance] is of Christ. (Col 2:16,17).

Native Greek-speaking "NT" scholar, Spiros Zodhiates, in his "The Complete Word Study New Testament," states that "are" in Colossians 2:17 is in the Present Indicative Active tense. He defines "present indicative" in the following manner: "The present indicative asserts something which is occuring while the speaker is making the statement." ~ (Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study New Testament, Col.2:17, p.663, and grammatical notations at p.869, PRESENT INDICATIVE, point 82).

Therefore, we see that as Paul was writing this letter to the Christian congregation in the city of Colosse, the Sabbath and Holy Days were at that time (as they still are presently) a shadow of good things yet to come.

Jesus had already come and gone a long time prior to Paul's letter to the Colossian disciples, yet Paul still wrote of those biblical holidays as a current shadow of things to come. They hadn't passed into the past.

-Michael Millier